A nice hodge-podge of genres. I'm not going to get into the "genre" argument, though. This album is too good to waste a review on that moot point.
Anyways, this is the first Against Me! album I've listened to (despite being told to listen to them from various sources), and I must say, it's pretty damn good. The sound is rather dense with various talents, none of which stand out above any other.
But talent without melody isn't really anything. That's why these guys are so rockin': they can display their individual talents, but individual talents ride a backseat to melodies, for these young men. The part on "Sink, Florida, Sink" when the singer says in a sort of callous way "and we sink, and we drown," comes right after the "whoa-oh-oh-oh," just as a sort of pleasant change. It's really good timing and it fits in with the song well, if you think about it; it comes after the whoa-oh-oh-oh's, which is obviously contrasted to the callous lines. The singer then melds it in well to the rest of the singing of the song, as if he's not singing, but really telling a story - no, wait! He's actually singing!
But there's a bunch of stuff like that in this album. In the first song, "This Shit Rules" (an awesome title), the song isn't introduced with casual guitar riffs and some sort of singing, followed by a pause, followed by a total rock-out. (There's more, I just don't want to get too heavily into what else is in there like this, because that would just take forever to write and to read).
Good harmonies, good individual talent, a healthy mix of melodies . . . this is a class act album. Definitely top 30 of the year material. (30 is a weird number for a "top whatever" list, isn't it?).
Don't take a minute to think about anything on this album, just enjoy it. Don't analyze the melodies and rhythms either, that's my job. Go do something else with your life.
